Door lock



Patented June 27, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOOR LOCK California Application April 5, 1948, Serial No. 19,058

2 Claims.

Our invention relates to door locks, and has particular reference to the type of door lock in which a longitudinal shifting of one or both of the doorknobs is employed for the purpose of locking and unlocking the lock.

Heretofore door locks have been generally of the type employing a spindle extending transversely through the doorway and having a doorknob attached to opposite ends thereof for the purpose of operating a door latch bolt upon rotation of the spindle by either of the knobs. To look such door locks, various mechanisms have been employed operable by a person using the door lock to selectively prevent rotation of the spindle and knobs or to permit rotation of the spindle and knobs. One of the familiar types of locking mechanisms employs a longitudinal movement of the doorknob spindle and at least one of the knobs in the direction of the axis of rotation of the spindle and knobs between a locked position and an unlocked position, the locking being accomplished by the interengagement of slots and projections on the knobs and fairings or roses secured to the door.

Heretofore the knob and spindle have been retained in either the door locking or the door unlocking position by means of rather complicated detents, spring pressed balls, or similar detent mechanisms which are relatively expensive to manufacture and assemble.

It is an object of our invention to provide a door lock of the character described wherein the longitudinal positioning of the doorknob and spindle is maintained in either its door looking or unlocking position by means of a simple frictional device.

Another object of our invention is to provide a construction of the character set forth in the preceding paragraph wherein the friction mechanism comprises a simple split rin adapted to be rotatably mounted with respect to a rose or fairing associated with the lock mechanism and adapted to frictionally grasp the doorknob or spindle in such fashion as to resist inadvertent longitudinal movement of the spindle or knob.

Particularly an object of our invention is to provide a frictional retaining mechanism of the character set forth which will irictionally interengage the doorknob and spindle with its associated rose or fairing in such fashion as to prevent the inadvertent longitudinal movement of the doorknob and spindle as the result of vibration, slamming the door, or other movements imparted to the door and door lock, except a positive, intentional longitudinal motion intended to lock or unlock the door latch.

Other objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent in the following description and claims, considered together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken along a generally horizontal plane through a door and knob and locking mechanism;

Fig. 2 is an exploded view of the components of the inner locking knob of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is asectional view taken along the line III1II of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, we have illustrated a door H) of typical construction which may be bored, slotted, or otherwise out to receive a door latch operating mechanism II for retracting or extending a door latch bolt H. The latch bolt is ordinarily adapted to extend to and fit within a suitable aperture in a striker or keeper I3 attached to the doorjamb when the latch I2 is aligned therewith, as for example when the door abuts a stop strip [4 attached to the doorjamb.

Any suitable operating assembly for operating the mechanism ll may be provided extending through a, transverse aperture in the door as indicated at IE to intersect the. slot or opening through which the operating mechanism ll extends.

The operating assembly preferably comprises a doorknob spindle l6 adapted to extend transversely through the door I0 and to have applied at opposite ends thereof doorknobs l1 and [8. The spindle l6 may be of the standard type of rectangular or square cross section to provide a positive interengagement between the spindle I6 and the operating mechanism II and to permit the positive interengagement between the doorknobs and the spindle to prevent relative rotation between them so that rotation of either of the doorknobs will result in a positive rotation of the spindle IS.

The doorknobs may be of any suitable construction, including a shank H! which extends a considerable length along the spindle l6 and has its inner end of circular cross section to constitute a bearing which will engage a suitable journal in a rose or fairing 20 secured to the door In in juxtaposition with the associated knob.

For purposes of illustrating the inventionherein, the left-hand knob I8 is illustrated as' having its shank l9a formed with a circular cross sectioned portion 2| constituting a bearing to be received within a journal 22 formed on the associated rose 20a. While the rose 20a may be of any suitable construction, we prefer to employ a construction which includes an outer shell or escutcheon plate 23 of suitable material finished to conform with the finish on the associated knobs, while an inner member 24 is preferably formed of any suitable wear-resistant material and preferably corrosion-resistant material permanontly secured within the shell 23.

For the purpose of permitting the locking of the spindle I6 against rotary movement when it is desired to lock the spindle and the-latch operating mechanism, we provide interengaging members on the inner rose member 24 and the shank 19a of the knob I8 adapted to interengage each other when the doorknob i8 and the shank l9a are moved inwardly toward the face of the door to the position shown in full lines, in Fig. 1, though it will be understood by those skilled in this art that other types of interengaging locking mechanisms 'may readily be employed, so long as the interengagement occurs as the result of a longitudinal movement of the knob l8 along its axis of rotation,,and so long. as the interengagement of the locking. members prevents rotation of the spindle l6 and the knobl8 relative to the door or the rose associated with the knob and attached to the door. Such interengaging -mechanisms are old' and well known, and need no further explanation here.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and- 2; the interengaging members comprise dim-ples or detents 25 pressed inwardly from the bearing 2-2 on the rose 20a adapted to interengage s1ots-26--onashell- 21 which is adapted to: be: press: fitted. onto the shank I911; the inner-end of the shell '21. being provided with a rectangular or square opening adapted: to interengage the square or rectangular cross section. of." the spindle It: so as to. prevent rela tive rotationbetween the shell '21 and the spindle It. Againithis construction is old. and needs no further el'aborationzhere, except perhaps to point out that the'shell 2 is preferably formed of wear-resistant. hard: and: non-corrosive material so? as to insure. long. lifein operation of the door lock,

By referring: particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, it be observed that the. knob I 8 is positively secured to the spindle It; as by means. of a screw 28 extending through the shank Na and through the spindle I6, while the. doorknob I]: is preferably secured for rotation within its associated rose 20, but permitting the longitudinal sliding movement of the spindle. [6 relative thereto to permit the shank Hid to be moved between two positions, one interengaging: the detents 2'5 and slots 25 to lock: the knobs l3: and H against ro- 1 tation, and a second position in which the detents: and slots are free of each other and in which the knobs 18' and. IT and spindle 1:6 may be freely rotated toaotuatethe latch bolt.

As will be" understood by those skilled in this 1 art, with this type of locking mechanism some insurance must be provided against inadvertent movement. of the spindle H3 andthe shank Isa between its locking and unlocking positions in case the dooris' slammed or'in case the door is moved to closed position. by a longitudinal thrust exerted uponthe knob t8: when there is no intention of locking the lock.

To accomplishthis result, we provide a simple mechanism which comprises a ring 219 having an.

internal diameter 'COl'lSidEIflbli FIBSS than the external diameter-of the shank; liiaor its shell 2i so that when-thering 29 is in engagement with the shell 21,, there will. be 'suiiicient friction exerted between .the rin and the shell.- as-to-prevent' inadvertent longitudinal-movement of the shank tween the'outer shell 23 and the inner .rose member. 24, as illustrated inFig. 1.

Thus by reasonof the extremely simple,

4 pedient of providing a spring ring frictionally engaging the shell 27, a positive intentional movementmust be imparted to the knob 13 to move it between its locking and unlocking posi- 1 tions.

While it will be understood by those skilled in this art that if desired, the shell 21 may be omitted and the ring 29 engaged directly with the metal of the shank l9a, the employment of the shell: 2'1 permits the utilization of only a small quantity ofwear-resistant material, while the shank 119a may be made of any other inexpensive material.

It will be apparent, therefore, that by providing the simple spring construction as illustrated and described: herein,.a yielding holding of the doorknobv in either its looking or unlocking position is provided without requiring either expensive detent-spring mechanisms or other intricate apparatus which is expensive to manufacture and difficult to maintain.

While we have shown and described a preferred embodiment of our invention, we do not desire to be limited by any of the details illustrated-or described herein, except as defined in the appended claims.

We'claim:

l. Ina dOOllOCkillg mechanism wherein a latch bolt. may be locked or unlocked by sliding movement of the shank of a doorknob along the rotative axisof the knob, a restraining mechanism for holding the knob; against inadvertent slidingmovement comprising; an escutcheon plate adapted: to be secured to'the door and having an opening therethrough for receiving the doorknob shank; a spring extending around and frictionally engaging theshank of the knob under said escutcheon plate; and means fixed to the door and cooperating with said escutcheon plate for preventing longitudinal movement of the spring relative to the door, while permitting free rotational movement relative to the door, whereby the friction between the ring and the shank will retain the doorknob in any position to. which it is positively manually moved.

2. In a door locking mechanism wherein a latch bolt may be locked or unlockedby sliding movement ofthe shank of a doorknob along the rotative axis of the knob, a restraining mechanism for holding the knob against inadvertent sliding movement comprising: an escutcheon plate adapted to be secured to the door and having an opening therethrough for receiving the doorknob shank; a spring extending around and frictionally engaging the shank of the knob under said escutcheon plate; and an inner member surrounding the shank and fixed to the door for cooperating with said escutcheon plate for preventing longitudinal movement of the spring relative to the door, while permitting free rotational movement relative to the door, whereby the friction between the ring and the shank will retain the doorknob in any position to which it is positively manually moved.

GEORGE B. SOLOVIEFF. FRED J. RUSSELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES. PATENTS Number Name Date 1,387,888 Holt Aug. 16, 1921 2,382,291 Carlberg Aug. 14, 1945 

